Maxiell, Manuel shine; Williams, Miles sputter
Chad Ford

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – Day two of Portsmouth got off to a bang on Thursday when the NBA released to teams the official measurements of the campers.

You know there's a problem when the league refuses to issue the heights and weights to the media. But with a little persuasion, Insider got a copy from an NBA scout. Now we know what they were hiding.

The best player in the camp, Cincinnati's Jason Maxiell, measured in at 6-foot-5¾ inches without shoes. Talk about your undersized power forwards. Maxiell does have a freaky 7-foot-2 inch wingspan. But his measurement, 6-foot-6¾ in shoes, seemed to dampen the parade.

It's too bad, too, because for the second straight day, Maxiell tore up the camp, scoring 20 points and grabbing four rebounds. At one point, Maxiell nearly tore down the backboard on a dunk. On another play, he spiked an opponent's shot like a volleyball back into the floor.

But after two straight heart-thumping performances by Maxiell, three straight GMs said exactly the same thing to me within a 10-minute period.

"Yeah, but look at the competition he's playing against."

Somewhere, Marc Cornstein is smiling.

Most scouts have Maxiell ranked somewhere between Nos. 25 and 45 on their draft boards. None of them indicated that he'd really moved up or down much.

The shocker of the night was North Carolina's Jackie Manuel. He's the almost forgotten member on the North Carolina championship squad and easily the least talented of the top six. On Thursday night, he looked like one of the best two or three players in the camp. Manuel scored 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting, grabbing six boards and blocking four shots. Manuel, who was used as a defensive stopper at UNC, shocked a lot of people with his athleticism and his strong drives to the basket.

West Virginia's Fischer is a legit 6-11 center who has some nice offensive moves.But even Manuel had a difficult time winning over the strict judges. I asked one GM about Manuel. After the executive finished saying how well Manuel played and how surprised he was at the performance, he threw in this little nugget: "This just goes to show you how diluted the talent is here. Most of these guys wouldn't be the 10th man on North Carolina. That's what Jackie proved – there just aren't many good players here."

There were more bright moments that didn't come with derogatory remarks attached.

West Virginia big man D'or Fischer measured a legit 6-foot-11 and weighed in at 250 pounds. He had a very nice game, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 boards. He disappeared for a couple of long stretches, but showed a nice jumper and a few decent moves around the basket.

DePaul's Quemont Greer measured in at 6-foot-6, and showed a nice all-around game scoring 19 points and grabbing five boards.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Ed McCants carried his excellent play in the NCAA Tournament to Portsmouth. He scored 19 points and was 4-for-6 from 3-point range. He's a little undersized to play the two in the pros (he measured 6-3), but he really is a nice player.

Washington star Nate Robinson was on hand to cheer on Will Conroy. Conroy's had two solid outings so far, averaging 10.5 ppg and 6 apg in the tournament.

The sleeper Thursday was Mindaugas Katelynas, a 6-foot-9 Lithuanian forward from UT-Chattanooga. Katelynas is an active, athletic forward who scored 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had the best block of the night on UNC's Jawad Williams.

Unfortunately, not everyone had a great game. Two of the highest-rated prospects here didn't do much.

UNC's Williams didn't do much of anything, scoring eight points and grabbing one rebound on 3-for-8 shooting. Maybe he was tired, after winning an NCAA Championship (Manuel sure wasn't however) or maybe he just had an off night. Either way, he didn't do anything to help himself.

Kansas point guard Aaron Miles put up the worst stat line of the tournament, failing to score, shooting 0-for-3 from the field. He dished out six assists, but turned the ball over four times. While it's clear that he can be a leader on the floor and plays great defense, the scouts that Insider talked to all felt that he doesn't do anything well enough to be an NBA point guard.

Both players had been receiving some interest from NBA scouts before they played. After? Eh.… not so much.

DRAFT CARDS

High school star Gerald Green declared for the draft on Thursday. That doesn't come as any surprise, though his statement that he hasn't hired an agent raised some eyebrows. He's been hanging around an NBA agent for a week and almost everyone expects him to stay in the draft. The fact that he pulled out of the Hoop Summit and Jordan Classic after a 24-point performance in the McDonald's Game is another indication that he's in the draft to stay.

UNC's Raymond Felton, a source claims, will declare for the draft on Tuesday. Felton is expected to hire an agent, ending his college eligibility.

Wake Forest's Chris Paul has yet to announce a decision though a major rumor (and we stress that it's a rumor) at the PIT was that he'd decided to stay in school. Paul is a great kid who clearly loves playing at Wake, but given his draft status (a lock for the top three) I find it hard to believe he's really skipping the draft.

Kentucky swingman Kelenna Azubuike announced on Thursday that not only did he declare for the draft, but he had hired an agent. I hope he has a passport or an affinity for the Yakima Sun Kings. Ditto for Florida State's Von Wafer if he decides to remain in the draft.

Chad Ford covers the NBA draft for ESPN Insider.

That lithuanian forwar from Tenn. I saw him in the dunk contest, the kid has mad hops..

Yeah, Mindaugas had some awesome slams at the college dunk contest. Really athletic kid who seems to genuinely love the game (from the way he sounded in his interviews). Definitely someone to keep an eye on. D'or Fischer didn't have a great season, and got kind of pushed aside by Pittsnogle and his incredible shooting run, but he's a pretty skilled player, who can be good on defense. If he is available at our 2nd pick I'd take him. He has true size and shotblocking ability, and isn't that bad on offense.